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Football: Juve beat Lazio to reach Italian Cup semis, Real close gap to Barca
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Gleison Bremer of Juventus celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Coppa Italia quarterfinal between Juventus and SS Lazio at Allianz Stadium in Turin, Italy, February 2, 2023. /CFP
Gleison Bremer of Juventus celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Coppa Italia quarterfinal between Juventus and SS Lazio at Allianz Stadium in Turin, Italy, February 2, 2023. /CFP

Gleison Bremer of Juventus celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Coppa Italia quarterfinal between Juventus and SS Lazio at Allianz Stadium in Turin, Italy, February 2, 2023. /CFP

Juventus will face Inter Milan in the last four of the Italian Cup after beating Lazio 1-0 in the Coppa Italia (Italian Cup) quarterfinal on Thursday.

Gleison Bremer headed home the decisive goal a minute before half-time when he beat Lazio goalkeeper Luis Maximiano to Filip Kostic's cross.

The Brazilian's second goal of the season won a tight contest in Turin and set up a two-legged semi-final against Juve's biggest rivals Inter.

Victory and a clean sheet came after a 2-0 home defeat by promoted Monza at the weekend which meant they had conceded 10 goals in their three most recent league matches.

"You need the right tactics and play but above all you need the right spirit," said Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri.

"We were coming off that Monza defeat so it wasn't an easy situation for us... now we've laid the foundations to recover our league form as well."

Marco Asensio of Real Madrid in action during the La Liga match between Real Madrid CF and Valencia CF at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, February 2, 2023. /CFP
Marco Asensio of Real Madrid in action during the La Liga match between Real Madrid CF and Valencia CF at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, February 2, 2023. /CFP

Marco Asensio of Real Madrid in action during the La Liga match between Real Madrid CF and Valencia CF at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, February 2, 2023. /CFP

Real Madrid reduced Barcelona's La Liga lead to five points with a 2-0 win over Valencia on Thursday, thanks to spectacular goals from Marco Asensio and Vinicius Junior.

The duo struck in a three-minute second half salvo which stunned the visitors at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, and Valencia were later reduced to 10 men when Gabriel Paulista took a wild hack at Vinicius.

Vinicius Junior of Real Madrid celebrates after scoring the team's second goal during the La Liga match at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, February 2, 2023. /CFP
Vinicius Junior of Real Madrid celebrates after scoring the team's second goal during the La Liga match at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, February 2, 2023. /CFP

Vinicius Junior of Real Madrid celebrates after scoring the team's second goal during the La Liga match at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, February 2, 2023. /CFP

Madrid dominated throughout but an otherwise good night was tainted when captain Karim Benzema went off injured in the second half with an apparent thigh problem, and Eder Militao was also replaced for a similar reason.

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti confirmed Benzema's injury was "very light" but that Militao would miss Sunday's trip to face Real Mallorca.

The game will likely be remembered for Gabriel's red card tackle on Vinicius, who netted his 50th goal for Madrid on his 200th appearance at 22 years old.

"We have to protect Vinicius a bit, he's a very expressive kid, he dribbles a lot and defenses don't like that," Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois told DAZN.

(With input from AFP)

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